Feds Bust Ammunition Smuggling Attempt At Port Of Oakland
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents recently seized roughly 2,300 rounds of ammunition and the cars used to try to smuggle them out of the country from the Port of Oakland, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
Authorities made an enforcement exam on an outbound shipping container at the port in early December and noticed inconsistencies, CBP spokesman Frank Falcon said.
While searching the three cars in the container, destined for Mongolia, they found high-power rifle and shotgun rounds, Falcon said. The container was taken to a secure location to be unloaded, he said.
All three cars—a 2006 Lexus RX400, 2006 Toyota Land Cruiser and 2007 Toyota Camry—were taken apart, and more ammo was found in the air filters, Falcon said.
He said the investigation determined the attempted smuggling was not an act of organized crime. It was likely an individual acting on their own, he said.
The contents found in the investigation were formally seized on Jan. 25. The value of the seized items is more than $45,000.
No arrests were made, Falcon said.
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